


Quick As A Wink

by MoragMacPherson



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode: s05e18 Point of No Return, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-17
Updated: 2010-05-17
Packaged: 2017-10-09 12:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/87522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoragMacPherson/pseuds/MoragMacPherson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean's winks have meant a number of things to Sam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quick As A Wink

**Author's Note:**

> Un-beta'd, quick and dirty comment fic.

Sam knows from previous experience - the Impala crash, his death at Cold Oak, Dean's death - that in moments like this, time seems to slow down as his brain tries to record every gut-wrenching detail. The iron-salty-sweet taste of blood in his mouth, the way that it puddles beneath Adam, the texture of the goddamn wallpaper: everything.  And because he has such excellent recall of these kind of moments, Sam can recognize the look on Dean's face, the slump in his shoulders, the way his voice threatens to jump up an octave on every word.  Dean's given in, and it's all over.  Sam can't blame Dean for how he's wired, and Zachariah has pressed his manual override: protect family in the moment, damn the consequences.  Doesn't make it hurt any less.

Then Dean winks at him.  And because Sam's brain has moved into "incipient-tragedy-hyper-record-slow-mo," he is able to have a number of responses to the wink.  "What the hell?" is his first thought.  "Does Dean have a plan?" comes second.  "Oh shit, Dean's got a plan and he _winked_ at me," is next, and that thought is accompanied by a number of memory flashes...

... Sam is eight, they're at a convenience store somewhere in the Midwest, haven't seen Dad in three weeks.  Dean winks at Sammy, which is Sammy's cue to bump into the rack of magazines, spilling them across the floor.  While the clerk's distracted, Dean snags candy, ramen, a couple of cans of Chef Boyardee, and a skin magazine which he doesn't think Sam sees.  They eat dinner that night for the first time in three days...

... in the parking lot of James K. Polk High School.  Jenny Miller, the first girl Sam ever kissed, is gushing over how cool the Impala is when Dean comes to pick Sam up.  Dean winks at Sam as he tells Jenny that he'd be happy to give her a lift home too.  That weekend, Sam walks in on them just as Dean's rounding third base...

... that one bar, he's lost track of where they are, all Sam wants is to drink until he can't remember that look on Jess' face in the split-second before the ceiling exploded in flames.  Doesn't want to deal with the drunken guy who's poking his finger into Sam's chest over and over, blinks a couple of times while looking down at the guy's red face, trying to remember if he'd actually done anything to earn this, other than being the person that red drunken guy bumped into.  Red guy is yelling about how Sam is a long-haired pansy faggot, so Sam's pulling on his jacket - the liquor stores are still open, he can buy a bottle of bourbon and take it back to the motel, but Dean's come back from the bathroom now, is tapping on red guy's shoulder.  Sam shakes his head at Dean - let it go, man - but Dean just smiles and winks at Sam while red guy slowly turns around to face Dean.  Dean asks red guy what the problem is.  Sam can't quite make out what red guy says, but Dean replies with a right hook to red guy's jaw.  Later, while Sam's stitching up a cut over Dean's eye, bitching about how they should have just left, Dean says he has a duty to defend Sam's honor and winks for the second time that night.  He pulls the stitches and Sam has to start all over again...

... on the road to New Harmony, Indiana.  Twenty minutes of awkward silence, Sam is trying to find a new radio station after the last one dissolved into static, lands on Celine Dion singing about how her heart's going to go on.  Dean says that if the demons really want to torture him in Hell, they'll just lock him in a room with this song on repeat for all of eternity and winks at Sam.  Sam can't laugh at the joke, manages only an awkward smile, tries to talk to Dean, but Dean won't hear it, pulls out a Bon Jovi tape instead...

... and here in the now, in the beautiful room, Sam's heart skips a beat because it feels like _Dean_ is here for the first time in weeks: Sam's brother, not the empty shell of a broken man, had winked at him.  A corner of Sam's mouth tugs to the side.  Things are about to get interesting.


End file.
